Setting the Stage
Joe Flacco was born in Audubon, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia. He played football, baseball and basketball for Audubon High School and was the starting quarterback. He got a new coach heading into his senior year and they changed from a Wing-T to a shot-gun spread offensive system and had great success capitalizing on Flacco’s arm. Flacco was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star quarterback and signed with Pittsburgh before the 2003 season.
At Pittsburgh, he red-shirted as a freshman and then only saw action in three games as a back-up in his first season, completing a single pass for 11 yards. Flacco transferred to Delaware after his second season, but because he was not released by Pittsburgh, he had to sit out the entire 2005 season, leaving him with two years of eligibility remaining.
He finally got to play in 2006, his junior year for Delaware and passed for 2,783 yards with 18 TDs and 10 interceptions. His play vastly improved his final season as he led the Blue Hens to the National Championship game and an 11-4 record. He passed for 4,263 yards, 23 TDs and only 5 interceptions.
Despite playing only two seasons and that for Delaware, a Football Championship Subdivision school, he was invited to the Senior Bowl. His invitation was a late one though, coming only a couple of days before practices began as a last minute replacement for Matt Ryan. At the Senior Bowl, Chad Henne was the marquee quarterback for the North squad, but the mostly unknown Flacco’s Blue Hen helmet was similar to Henne’s and the comparisons did not stop there. Flacco’s week of practice garnered plenty of attention and one scout proclaimed him the most physically gifted passer there. His play in the game however disappointed as he completed only 2 of 7 passes for 22 yards and also threw an interception.
The NFL Combine provides a level playing field and enables relatively unknown players a great opportunity to prove their value. Flacco’s intriguing combination of proto-typical NFL quarterback size and excellent arm strength were on display and impressed many. The primary question remaining was how quickly Flacco would be able to catch up to the increased speed of the NFL.
The Baltimore Ravens drafted him at #18 as the second quarterback selected in the 2008 NFL Draft, behind only Matt Ryan who was selected by the Falcons at #3.Both Ryan and Flacco have produced well for their teams. Ryan has thrown for more yards and TDs, but Flacco has led his team to the Playoffs in every year of his career except one and has a 10-5 record including winning the Super Bowl in 2012. Ryan has taken the Falcons to the Playoffs four times, but only managed one win and has a 1-4 record.
Joe Flacco started the first game of his rookie season because of an illness suffered by Troy Smith and has not yet missed a single game in his career. The Ravens’ game plan early on for Flacco’s was a game manager because they expected to dominate defensively and run the ball well. Over his first four years, the Ravens defense ranked 3rd in the NFL in points given up per game each year and the offense rushed for an average of over 2,000 yards.
The most recent three seasons has seen a turnaround in fortunes as the defense has ranked 13th, 12th, and 6th in points given up per game and the rushing has averaged only 1,740 yards. Flacco’s production has improved because the team needed more offense and even with considerable more passing attempts, he has maintained his career averages for completion percentage and yards per attempt. He has increased his passing yardage totals in every season, except 2011 when he threw for 12 yards less than 2011. He has also limited interceptions throughout his career, throwing 12 or less in all years except 2013 when he threw 22.
His career statistics are provided below.
| Year | Games | Comp | Att | % | Yards | ypa | TDs | Ints | Rushes | Yards | TDs |
| 2008 | 16 | 257 | 428 | 60.0% | 2,971 | 6.94 | 14 | 12 | 52 | 180 | 2 |
| 2009 | 16 | 315 | 499 | 63.1% | 3,613 | 7.24 | 21 | 12 | 34 | 62 | 0 |
| 2010 | 16 | 306 | 489 | 62.6% | 3,622 | 7.41 | 25 | 10 | 43 | 84 | 1 |
| 2011 | 16 | 312 | 542 | 57.6% | 3,610 | 6.66 | 20 | 12 | 39 | 88 | 1 |
| 2012 | 16 | 317 | 531 | 59.7% | 3,817 | 7.19 | 22 | 10 | 32 | 22 | 3 |
| 2013 | 16 | 362 | 614 | 59.0% | 3,912 | 6.37 | 19 | 22 | 27 | 131 | 1 |
| 2014 | 16 | 344 | 555 | 62.0% | 3,986 | 7.18 | 27 | 12 | 39 | 70 | 2 |
| Totals | 112 | 2,213 | 3,658 | 60.5% | 25,531 | 6.98 | 148 | 90 | 266 | 637 | 10 |
Looking Forward to 2015
During the off-season, the Ravens defense lost both Pernell McPhee, a disruptive pass rusher and Haloti Ngata, one of the best run stuffers in the NFL and only added Kendrick Lewis, a free agent cornerback from Houston. Their draft was more focused on the offense, taking WR Breshad Perriman in the 1st round and TE Maxx Williams in the 2nd. They added a solid running back, Javorius Allen in the 4th and three other offensive players late. The team did draft three defensive players, but none before the end of the 3rd round, one each at defensive tackle, defensive end and cornerback.
Perriman provides Flacco with a great downfield target and was their hand-chosen replacement for the departing Torrey Smith. Perriman is slightly bigger and quite a bit faster than Smith, but not quite as athletic. Perriman’s biggest question mark is his hands but as pointed out by Justin Howe in Perriman’s Player Spotlight article on Footballguys.com, his last season’s drop rate was less than Smith’s last season in Baltimore and Perriman had extremely poor quarterback play in his last year at Central Florida. Perriman is capable of playing immediately and providing similar production to the departed Torrey Smith.
The Ravens traded up to select Maxx Williams, thought to be the NFL’s top tight end prospect in this draft. He is a solid blocking and receiving tight end and that position has a recent history of production in Baltimore. With the Ravens new Offensive Coordinator Mark Trestman, the tight end should continue to be involved this season. Williams could see playing time early if Dennis Pitta continues to miss time with his hip or is unable to return.
The Ravens’ offensive line will be much improved in 2015 as they return all the same players from a year ago, only entering this off-season training period they are all healthy. Matt Bitonti our own Footballguys.com offensive line writer ranks the Ravens as the 2nd best NFL offensive line behind only Philadelphia.
Perhaps the biggest off-season change in Baltimore is the addition of Marc Trestman as their new their offensive coordinator. He replaces Gary Kubiak who left the team to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Trestman becomes the Ravens’ fourth offensive coordinator in the past four seasons. He has a strong NFL offensive resume, having coached in the NFL for18 years, including 8 as offensive coordinator. He is known for working well with quarterbacks and should be a great coach for the veteran Flacco, who is coming off the best season of his career.
Positives
- Flacco enters his eighth NFL season as a consistently improving quarterback and has never missed an NFL game
- The Ravens have a top flight NFL offensive line
- The combination of Flacco and Trestman should improve the team’s passing game
- An expected slightly declining defense should force the Ravens to need to score more
Negatives
- His top wide receivers are an aging Steve Smith (36), Marlon Brown a former undrafted free agent who had declining production in his second year and Perriman, a talented rookie
- His tight ends include oft injured Dennis Pitta who has missed 25 games the past two seasons and Maxx Williams, a talented rookie
- Justin Forsett returns has career high 1,266 yard rushing season and the running game should remain effective
Projections
| Name | Games | Comp | Att | % | Yards | ypa | TDs | Ints | Rushes | Yards | TDs |
| David Dodds | 16 | 356 | 540 | 65.9% | 3,796 | 7.0 | 25 | 14 | 30 | 60 | 1 |
| Bob Henry | 16 | 351 | 570 | 61.6% | 4,060 | 7.1 | 25 | 13 | 28 | 80 | 1 |
| Jason Wood | 16 | 350 | 580 | 60.3% | 3,695 | 6.4 | 24 | 11 | 35 | 65 | 1 |
| Maurile Tremblay | 16 | 354 | 566 | 62.5% | 3,956 | 7.0 | 25 | 15 | 42 | 84 | 2 |
| Stephen Holloway | 16 | 377 | 590 | 63.9% | 4,140 | 7.0 | 26 | 10 | 40 | 70 | 2 |
Final Thoughts
Flacco began his NFL career as a game manager supported by excellent defense and a strong running game. However, beginning in his third season, he has finished as QB12, QB14, QB15 twice and QB18 (after he threw a career high 22 interceptions). The combination of his new offensive coordinator, an outstanding offensive line and the chance this year’s receivers could be slightly better than the team had a year ago, he could bring excellent value with his current ADP of QB20.
Other Viewpoints
Kevin Patra, Around the NFL writer
The question seemed fair enough: Has Joe Flacco grown from a quarterback who was bolstered by a running game and defense early in his career to one who will now raise up the young offense talent on the Baltimore Ravens' roster, as great quarterbacks do?
Ravens coach John Harbaugh fired back at the question. "Joe Flacco is a great player. He's only going to get better. I think he's hitting his stride, hitting the peak of his career, and I wouldn't want any other quarterback in the National Football League - period. End of story. So, just write that and be done with it, because that's the last I really want to hear about it.” But, he went on, saying "this guy is a superstar in the National Football League, and I'm thrilled to have him, and I can't wait to see what he does this year with all that young talent around him. I love the young talent around him. I'm thrilled with what we have, and I just want to coach them. I just want to coach them with our guys and get out there and get after it and see where we can go with it."
Marc Sessler, Around the NFL writer
We asked on the latest podcast how new Ravens offensive coordinator Marc Trestman would mesh with quarterback Joe Flacco.
According to Baltimore's head coach, that won't be an issue.
John Harbaugh told reporters that one of the big factors in choosing the former Bears coach was his fit with Flacco, who played a significant role in the hiring process, "especially in the latter stages, before deciding on Trestman," per Ryan Mink of the team's official website.
"Joe's on board with it. He's excited about it. He knows Marc's reputation," Harbaugh said. "I think personality-wise, they're going to hit it off really well. They're both very smart, they're both very detailed and they're both very direct in their communication."
Garrett Downing, BaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer
The Ravens head coach called his quarterback just after taking top tight end Maxx Williams in the second round in this year’s draft. Picking Williams followed the selection of speedy receiver Breshad Perriman a day earlier, and Harbaugh couldn’t wait to talk with Flacco.
In a matter of 24 hours, the Ravens provided their franchise quarterback with a pair of much-needed targets who have the potential to become difference makers in Baltimore’s offense. “I was excited, definitely,” Flacco said after a recent offseason practice. “And I think part of the reason I was excited is that everybody around here seemed to be excited. It definitely felt good.”
Perriman’s arrival could give Flacco and the offense the true top receiver they’ve wanted for years. He has the prototypical size (6-foot-2, 212 pounds) and speed (4.22 seconds in the 40-yard dash) to become a big target and downfield threat.
Jason Wood Footballguys.com in his player comments
Flacco manages to put up respectable numbers year in, year out. If he does that in 2015 I’ll be surprised and will have to tip my cap to the former Delaware Blue Hen. Torrey Smith is gone. Dennis Pitta is still hurt. Steve Smith is pushing 40. I just don’t see where the targets are for Flacco.